Books & Manuscripts, including Americana

Folio in 6s (356 x 222 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by Martin Droeshout with Ben Jonson's verses below, title-page with type ornament, woodcut initials. (Title-page and frontispiece lightly toned (possibly washed?), title with some creases, staining to A6 and B1; two short closed tears in text, touching a few letters, repaired on E3; tiny scorch mark affecting a single letter on E5 and Ee3; closed tear near border of L2; manuscript numeral and letter below last line on Ee3; small marginal tear to Mm2, not affecting letters; tiny marginal mend to 3E4r, 3Z5v, and 4C; fore-edge of text block with small stain, occasional spotting and light staining, a few leaves browned). 20th century black morocco antique, covers gilt framed with intricate side pieces and floral tools at corners, a large central lozenge within, spine in 6 compartments with raised bands, gilt-lettered in the second, others with floral tools, marbled endpapers.

FOURTH FOLIO EDITION, third setting of the title-page (a cancel), printed by John Macock. The edition was set from the second issue of the Third Folio. The Fourth Folio is the last edition of Shakespeare's plays published in the 17th century and was regarded by 18th-century editors, readers, and collectors as textually the best edition, until Samuel Johnson and especially Edward Capell demonstrated the superiority of the First Folio. The most immediately striking aspect of the Fourth Folio is its height. Herringman and his co-publishers decided on a larger paper size to increase the number of lines per page and reduce the book's bulk; thus, including the added plays, the number of sheets in the Fourth Folio is almost exactly the same as that in the First and Second.

The first issue of the imprint lists Herringman, Edward Brewster, and Richard Bentley as publishers; the second adds a fourth publisher, Richard Chiswell. The third issue of the imprint, on the cancel title-page as here, names Herringman as the sole publisher, but specifies that the work is "sold by Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders." Greg surmises that this second title was "designed for those copies that Herringman chose to issue through his own booksellers," while Pforzheimer notes that "it is probable that the two settings were simultaneously issued and both titles were available on the same day." Up until recently, this copy was unrecorded in the Shakespeare Census. ESTC R24524; Greg III, 1119-21; Pforzheimer 910; Shakespeare Census 8273.3; Wing S-2916.